The Child Labor in Developing Countries: A Challenge to Millennium Development Goals

The problem of child labour is immense and has been growing. Wherever poverty exists, child labour there prevails and it is one of the most striking issues in the developing countries. Hence, there is a need to identify the vulnerable children and point out the problems in relation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), particularly poverty eradication, education for all, gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS and creation of a global partnership for development. To understand household labour supply decisions, considering relations to the labour market and to public interventions is critical in designing programmes in order to achieve the MDG. The research on child labour represent in this respect a largely untapped resource of knowledge for policymakers in the fields of education programme and poverty reduction programmes. An attempt is made in this article to demonstrate how increased education opportunities and increased welfare reduces child labour.